Public Works

Public Defender turned Human Rights Advocate: October 28, 2010

Please join the Virginia Law Human Rights Program and the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center for a discussion with Brooklyn public defender Adam Heyman '03 regarding careers in indigent defense and how US-trained lawyers (and law students) may assist post-conflict nations in their efforts to strengthen their judiciary.

Adam recently returned from Kathmandu, Nepal where he worked for International Legal Foundation (ILF), a New York-based NGO.  ILF helped establish a public defender office in Kathmandu to provide representation to indigent defendants before the country's courts.  Please read more about Adam's efforts in KTM here and here. I will also briefly discuss my own experience in this area - how my legal training and practice allowed me to represent victims of violations of international humanitarian law.

The event will be held in Caplin Pavilion on October 28, 2010, at 11:45.  Pizza will be provided for the first 30 students. Many thanks to Professor Deena Hurwitz and Human Rights Program Coordinator Jessica Lee for helping organize this event.

Indigent defense in KTM - part 2

By YARED GETACHEW

Following is another dispatch by Brooklyn public defender Adam Heyman '03 from Kathmandu, Nepal.  In April 2010, Adam took a sabbatical from the Brooklyn Legal Aid Society to work in Nepal with the International Legal Foundation (ILF), a New York-based NGO established in 1997 to ensure that reconstruction efforts of post-conflict justice systems includes indigent defense.  In 2009, ILF helped establish a public defender office to provide representation to indigent defendants before all courts in Kathmandu.  Adam summarizes one of his current assignments: the Chitwan Project.  All disclaimers stated in the previous posting apply.

By Adam Heyman

On June 28, 2010, we traveled to Chitwan National Park in central Nepal to assess the status of potential legal violations in poaching cases. Currently, the Warden of Chitwan National Park and the District Forest Officer, the two sole authorities as directed by the Wildlife Act of 1972 to decide poaching cases, are extremely overworked with many other park duties to also administer the adjudication of such cases in an effective and timely fashion. 

Indigent Defense in Kathmandu

I confess that Adam Heyman '03, public defender at Brooklyn Legal Aid Society (Criminal Practice), is one of my favorite public speakers.  His presentations at the Law School on the work of indigent defenders are highly informative and inspiring.  He has never turned down an invitation from the Public Service Center and in the last few years, has traveled to Charlottesville to speak, recruit, and conduct mock interviews at the Law School.  He has also helped students and graduates find internship, permanent, and winter pro bono opportunities at the Legal Aid Society.  Our Law School would not be the extraordinary institution it is without its amazing alumni such as Adam. 

But this posting is not a paean to my good friend. In April 2010, Adam took a sabbatical from the Brooklyn Legal Aid Society to work in Nepal with the International Legal Foundation (ILF), a New York-based NGO established in 1997 to ensure that reconstruction efforts of post-conflict justice systems includes indigent defense.  In 2009, ILF helped establish a public defender office to provide representation to indigent defendants before all courts in Kathmandu.  A summary of this project is available on ILF's site here.